Dark Swan
by Trish Tavor
Summary: A collection of Captain-Swan centred one-shots that I am planning to write over the course of Season Five. Genre's will vary, but I am assuming there will be lots of angst and drama though hopefully there will be time for some fluff and romance as well. Only the season shall tell :) Rating is just to be safe.
1. True Love's Kiss

A/N: So, in the episode description for Season 5, Episode 2 it referred to Hook trying a "tried and true" method to take the darkness from Emma. This was what came to mind and even though it's painful, I had to write it down. Number one in what will likely be a series of one shots over the course of the season. Hope you enjoy!

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Killian sat on the edge of the dock, his booted feet just inches above the dark water, the evening sky clouded over and allowing nothing but a dim light to reach him. Not that the darkness bothered him. He had lived in darkness for so many years that he had grown accustomed to its presence – indeed, he almost found himself missing it at times. It had been Emma who had finally grounded him, kept him from giving in.

And now she had given in.

He didn't know why, how…he didn't know anything. The new dark one was the only one with the memories of what had happened back in Camelot. The last thing Killian remembered was pleading with her, reminding her that if they had overcome their demons that she could overcome hers. He had silently begged her not to give in, reminded her that the darkness in her eyes was not who she truly was.

And she had listened, replacing the red-haired lasses' heart and falling into his arms.

Killian could not remember the last time he had felt such relief. And when she had taken his hand, following him first to Granny's and then to Camelot…he had hoped that perhaps everything could go back to normal. That she could _be_ normal.

He had let his emotions get the best of him. He hadn't seen what could – what would – happen.

And it had happened.

"Hook."

The word was spoken cruelly, as though in it was wrapped an eternity of malice and anger. Killian couldn't bring himself to respond. The pirate didn't even turn, willing this to be a nightmare that he would simply wake up from.

Of course, that was only wishful thinking.

"Are you just going to sit there, playing pretend? Pretending that you know me…or perhaps pretending that everything will just go back to that way it was? It's useless, Hook."

Hook. The way she said the name was one thing, but the fact that she was even using it was another. He had grown accustomed to hearing _Killian_ roll off of her lips and he missed hearing his real name.

He missed so much more than that.

After a moment of silence, Killian turned to face her. Emma's body almost blended into the shadows, her long dress and boots as black as the night itself. It was her pale face and almost-white hair that stood out against the black canopy.

Light against the darkness.

 _Darkness against the darkness._

Killian flinched involuntarily.

Emma gave the pirate a cruel smile.

"Emma…why are you doing this?" The words Killian had spoken not hours before rolled off his tongue in another plea for an answer. Why? What had they done to her that was so terrible as to cause this?

"I already told you, _love_. Because I'm the dark one." The way Emma used his common pet name for her in such a demeaning way was like a knife plunging into Killian's heart, twisting cruelly the longer she taunted him with it.

"That's not an answer," Killian responded, pushing himself up from the docks and standing in place, moving neither away from Emma nor towards her. There was a good three feet in between them, and despite Killian's overwhelming desire to go to her, to take her in his arms, to kiss her and tell her that everything would be alright, he knew that he couldn't.

He tried to tell himself that this wasn't her, that this wasn't Emma. But she was too real, standing there in front of him.

"It's all your getting," Emma responded, taking a step towards him and closing the distance slightly. Killian could now reach out and take her hand, could almost believe that he smelled her perfume, though he knew she wasn't wearing any now.

"Emma…" the pirate trailed off as the dark one held up a finger in a clear request for silence. She waited a moment, before taking another step towards him, so that only inches separated their bodies. Teasing him, tormenting him.

"Emma, whatever I did to you…I'm sorry," Killian could barely choke the words out, ignoring the anger that flared up in her eyes as he spoke. He didn't know what he could have done to her to change her this drastically, but he also remembered the way she had looked directly at him in that moment in the Diner. When she had told them that they had done _something_ to her, something that none of them remembered doing.

"An apology?" she asked, voice incredulous. "You think that's going to fix anything?"

No, of course he didn't. But her words reminded the pirate of something. Something that hadn't worked the last time he had tried it, but there had been a reason then. Now…well, she had admitted it, hadn't she? Before allowing the darkness to take her. It seemed like it had only been last night, when in reality six weeks had passed. Did she still feel it? Would it work?

Killian didn't know, but he knew he had to try.

Leaning forward in a quick gesture, Killian touched his lips to hers, his hook reaching around and pulling her closer. Emma didn't pull away, returning the kiss with the same passion the pirate offered. But something was clearly off. It didn't feel right, and when Killian pulled away, he saw the same darkness in Emma's eyes that had existed only moments before.

"Why didn't it work?" The words were meant to be a thought, but somehow they escaped that realm and entered the physical one, loud and clear in the night's silence.

Emma simply smirked, a cruel look that seemed entirely wrong on her face.

"Because I don't love you," she said simply, before disappearing in a puff of grey smoke.

Killian stood on the edge of the docks, and for the first time in years, a single tear made its way down his rough cheek.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think! :)


	2. I Wish I Could

A/N: So, episode two...I just can't even. It was so incredible. After having a day to think about the episode, this is what I came up with. It's not the best I've done, but I hope you enjoy it anyways! Also, just a note. Because this is a series of one-shots as the season goes on, there will most certainly be confliction with new episodes and likely within the one-shots themselves as new information is revealed. So, this isn't in anyway meant to be a correlating series, but just me writing about each episode/thoughts on the upcoming episode every now and then. Enjoy! :)

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 _I wish I could_.

The words rang through Killian's head as he found himself once more at the dock, the only place he seemed to be able to find any kind of solace these days. The pirate took a long swig from his flask, his eyes closing as he did so. When he dropped the flask and reopened them, the scene in front of him was the same. Grey, cheerless sky, and an ocean stretching on to the horizon. Not that he had expected it to change.

But he couldn't help hoping that it was a dream.

 _I wish I could._

What the bloody hell had Emma meant by that? For that one moment, however small, Killian had seen a flicker of hope. A chance that his Emma was still in there somewhere. But in an instant she'd changed, and any regret he had seen had disappeared.

What had happened to her? What had they bloody well done to turn her into this…into the dark one?

The irony was clear, but the pirate had meant every word that he had said to Belle. He had spent a century looking to kill the crocodile, and he would spend just as long trying to save Emma.

He was simply worried that there was no chance for her to be saved.

At first, Killian hadn't even let himself think it. But as the evening wore on, and then the night, his thoughts had grown darker. Now, sitting on the dock in the early morning, he didn't know what to think.

After another moment spent staring at the roiling waves, Killian stood and turned around, walking to the table that sat only feet from his original position. He remembered the first time he had spent the night there, and the many times that had followed. He'd never belonged here, in Storybrooke. The only reason he had stayed was because of Emma.

And now his Emma was gone.

Or, at the very least, buried so deep he was afraid there was nothing left.

 _I wish I could._

Those words. They were the only thing Killian had left to hold on to now. The last piece of her – the real her – he had. He knew he was likely fooling himself, but he wasn't willing to let them go just yet.

"Bloody hell, Emma…" he whispered under his breath, the words coming out like some kind of a plea. He felt as though his heart was breaking again and he despised the feeling. Part of him regretted walking out on her. Wished she was here now. But another part of him knew that he had done what needed to be done.

Emma was there, yes. But she was hidden. The dark one had taken over and there was no longer a trace of the Emma he knew. He couldn't have stayed. He had made the right decision.

"Hook."

The word pierced the air, as Emma – as the dark one - appeared in a puff of grey smoke, startling the pirate. Killian's eyes met her dark ones and he almost flinched, though instead he steeled himself and held his ground.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, voice cool. He forced himself to bury his emotions down deep, where no one, not even himself, could get to them. It was what he had done after Milah had been killed by the dark one.

In a way, this wasn't all that different.

"You summoned me," she responded, a flirtatious smirk playing on her lips.

"I think I'd bloody well _know_ if I had summoned you," Killian responded, keeping his tone even, though it was more difficult the longer he stared at her.

Emma's smile only widened. "Playing the tough pirate? I can work with that." With a snap of her fingers, she disappeared, and Killian once more felt the familiar feeling of nothingness as he too was engulfed in smoke.

This time, it was the inside of her house that she transported them too.

Her bedroom, to be exact.

Killian visibly flinched, his emotions rising to the surface again. He remembered all of Emma's old jokes about how much she needed to get her own place, and now that she had it, he would do anything to get rid of it. The pirate turned a small circle, but she had disappeared, the door to her closet wide open. Killian took a small step towards the open doorway, but Emma's voice stopped him.

"Uh,uh! Just give me a moment, pirate." Her voice had lost the seductive edge, but this didn't comfort him. Killian stood stiffly on the spot, looking out the window to his left as he waited.

"Alright, Hook." Her voice met his ears again, and the pirate turned from the window, his eyes widening slightly at the sight before him. Emma approached him, looking as innocent as she had that last evening in Granny's. The last time he had truly seen her as _her_. With no darkness, however small, hidden behind her eyes.

"Emma…" the word slipped out of his mouth unbidden and he immediately silenced. She simply smiled.

"Killian. How do I look?" Her voice was gentle, sounding like her own once again. Killian studied her, and only then realized what it was that stood out. Her hair was tied back and she was wearing a light pink dress. The same she had worn that night he would never forget. Their first "date". The one she had asked him out on.

 _Stunning, Swan_. The thought crossed his mind, but he shook his head free of it. This was a trick. She was toying with him. And though the thought brought a knife of pain into his heart, he was certain it had to be true.

"You need something, dark one," Killian told her, his voice cool but his tone even. "Tell me what it is."

Emma was only inches from him now, looking far too much like her old self to be real. "All I need is your trust." The words were just above a whisper, and Killian almost believed them. This was Emma. He trusted her.

"I…" Killian trailed off, seeing for only a moment the darkness in her eyes, before they flashed back to some semblance of normal. "No. You're not the same Emma." He gestured to her outfit with his hook, though the meaning to his words was far deeper than simply her outwards appearance. "That _you_ isn't here."

A look of hurt flashed through her eyes for a moment, and Killian almost felt guilty for his harsh words. But he couldn't let himself feel that. He had to stay strong.

But this was Emma. This was…

No. This wasn't. This was the dark one. He couldn't let himself be fooled by her.

"Do you love me?"

The question caught the pirate entirely off guard, all anger leaving him. Her eyes bore no hint of darkness, but rather…pain. Sadness. Perhaps even a hurt than matched his own.

"Just let me go, Emma. This isn't you. I…" he trailed off, his eyes never leaving hers, his tone no longer carrying the harsh edge it had only moments before. He knew he should walk out. Leave. Get out of here. But another voice told him that even if this wasn't the Emma he had come to love, it was still _her_. He had been dark before, what was to stop him from becoming dark again, for the woman he loved?

No. He couldn't do that. He would save Emma, even if she didn't realize that she needed saving. He didn't need to love the dark one – he would just do what he had always been trying to do. He would kill the dark one. And he would get his Emma back.

The pain in her eyes deepened at his comment, and Killian felt his stomach drop. But what if he couldn't do it? How could he bloody well be expected to do it? This was the woman he loved. How could he just let her go?

"If you tell me you don't love me, I will let you go." Her words came again, and this time there was no mistaking the pleading that was clear in them. If there was even a hint of anger left in him, it disappeared. He felt like he was in some kind of a trance, though truly his mind was perfectly clear. The pirate's eyes flitted back to the window, to the grey sky outside.

He did love her. He loved her with everything in him.

But he loved _Emma_. Not the dark one.

And yet, Emma _was_ the dark one.

Killian swallowed hard and met her eyes once again. He saw nothing but sincerity there, and though he knew this had to be a trick, he couldn't deny what he felt for her. To do so…it would be like denying himself.

"I do love you, Swan. I still do."

The smirk that played with Emma's lips for only a moment, the twinkle in her eyes - these let him know that he had chosen the wrong answer, however true it was.

"Good. Then come with me." In another moment, the two had been transported back into the entrance area where Killian had been not a day before. The first thing he noticed was the door he had been so intrigued by...it was no longer closed. It was open, barely a crack, the lock clearly disengaged. Emma took a step towards it, gesturing for him to follow.

And he wanted to. The darkness in him, the pain that still lived inside him...it called for him to go with her. To forget who he had become and who she had changed into. To embrace the darkness once more.

But he couldn't. For the first time he knew this with absolute certainty. He couldn't go back to who he had been.

"Sorry, Swan," Killian murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, not making any attempt to conceal the pain he felt over the words. "I wish I could."

Emma turned back around to face him, her smile only widening. "Really, Captain? Well, I admit..." she trailed off for a moment, raising an eyebrow in a gesture that so eerily reminded him of himself. "I was hoping you'd say that."

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A/N: Sorry for the cliffy, I didn't want to get _too_ far into the realm of theorizing. Let me know what you think! :)


	3. A Portal to Hell

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated recently - I've been way too busy to write, and I didn't have a ton of inspiration from the recent ones (well, that or they were too emotionally charged for me to risk writing anything). I've pretty much been dying while watching them, especially this last Sundays, and while I'm not sure how I felt about the recent twist (I know I hate writing him like this...) I gave it a go. So I hope you enjoy :) Note: if you haven't watched the most recent episode, there are spoilers below.

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"Swan."

Hook's voice filled the small room, where Emma stood, staring out the window that held the telescope with a perfect view of the ocean. She hadn't expected him to come to her again. Not after everything that he had said earlier. She didn't even give him the courtesy of a response; she couldn't.

"I thought I'd come and see you again, before…all hell breaks loose," he said, a light chuckle following the words, as though he knew something she didn't.

At that, Emma turned to look at him. "I'm a dark one too, Hook. I know what you're planning." Calling him _Hook_ rather than _Killian_ took some effort and letting his old moniker slip out was almost painful, but it was the only way she could still forgive him, by separating the two in her mind. Killian and Hook. Some part of her said it wasn't true, they were the same person. But he'd told her himself that it was Killian Jones, the lovesick puppy-dog who had said she was his happy ending. Hook was the dark one. They weren't the same. They couldn't be.

Or that's how she needed to think about it, however naïve it might be.

"I see you have Excalibur," Hook said, his voice slightly menacing, as though he regretted ever letting go of the sword. He didn't comment on her statement that she knew what he was doing; Emma assumed that he knew as well as she did that it was true. Either that or he was planning something else that she wouldn't see coming.

"Gold – Rumplestiltskin – gave it up," Emma said. That wasn't entirely true, of course. She'd taken the sword, and being the dark one, there was nothing that the other man could have done to stop her. She was sure he knew it was safer in her hands than in his anyway.

Hook let out a sarcastic chuckle as though he knew what she meant by the statement. "I'm sure he did," he said, confirming her thoughts.

Emma let out a breath before taking a cautious step towards him. His earlier words had broken her heart and it took everything within her to keep reminding herself that it was the darkness. It wasn't him. The man she loved would never say anything like that. "Why are you doing this?" she asked him quietly, her voice betraying the pain that he had caused her.

"I told you, Swan. I want to hurt you, like you – "

Emma cut him off, "I _saved your life_ , Kil – Hook! I couldn't just let you die, you know that – you have to understand."

"It's Hook now, is it?" Was his only response.

"Start acting like Killian and we'll talk," Emma responded, repeating something Regina had told her when she was still acting like a crazy dark one.

The pirate simply scowled. "Maybe you should have let me die, Emma. It's what I _bloody_ asked – no, begged – you to do. But no, you couldn't. Because the only person you ever think about it yourself."

Emma looked as though he had slapped her, his words stinging, partly because in some sense she knew they were true. Or she thought they were. She couldn't have let Killian die, but she still wondered to this day if she had made the _right_ decision. Particularly when he'd turned against her so soon afterwards.

She'd been right not to trust him.

Or had she?

It was another one of those things that played through her mind. What if she had never lied to him? If she had trusted him in the first place? Would he still have gone dark, or would her trust have been enough to save him?

It was a question she would never be able to answer.

"Hook…Killian…I – I'm sorry," she told him quietly. "I can't apologize for saving your life, but I'm sorry for not trusting you. I should have. You never gave up on me and I didn't mean to give up on you," Emma told him, stepping up and taking his arm, looking into his eyes as though she hoped that her words alone would be enough to sway him.

The coldness in his gaze didn't even flicker.

"It doesn't bloody matter anymore, Swan. What's done is done," Hook said, shoving her off of him and taking a step away. "You told us when we got back to Storybrooke that we would be punished for what we did to you, but really, it was _you_ who did something to _me._ And now, you're about to be punished."

Emma felt another wave of hurt go through her when he pulled away, though she didn't know that it was fair.

Hook continued: "You're a dark one, aye. But you don't know what I plan to do with my newfound…allies."

A light gasp left Emma before she could stop herself. If he had new allies then that meant he had done it. The portal to hell – to the underworld – had been opened. Hook simply smirked at the expression on her face.

"Aye, I've done it. And now, everyone is in danger. And you're going to have to watch everyone you love _die_ ," he told her, the iciness in his voice clear.

Emma shook her head, her heart feeling as though it was being broken and torn. Between Hook – Killian – the man she loved, and her family. And she was no longer sure she would be able to have them both. The man in front of her…it was clear he would stop at nothing to hurt the people she cared about.

"I won't let you do that," she told him, though her voice was shaky.

Hook took another step, so he was now in front of the closed doorway. "Oh, and how exactly do you plan to stop me, love?" The final word was mocking, and Emma despised how the sweet term had become one of manipulating.

"I won't let you hurt my family. Even if I have to kill you to do it," Emma told him, her voice suddenly sounding firm as a rush of anger went through her.

Killian smirked. "Good luck with that," he said, the look on his face making it clear that he would stop at nothing to bring her and her family pain.

Before Emma knew what she was doing, she was rushing him with the sword, the point directed at him. At his heart. To kill.

Killian raised a hand and his body was engulfed in red smoke, the sword entering it, but it was too late. A moment later, the last wisps of eerie smoke had disappeared, and Emma was left in the dark, with only the sword that held her lover's name as comfort.

All it did was make her feel worse.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are always appreciated :)


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